| WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Arkansas Congressional Delegation today announced that an annual spending bill containing millions of dollars for numerous Arkansas water projects has been finalized by Congress.
The FY 2006 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Conference Report is expected to be passed by both the House and Senate this week, and is then expected to be signed into law by President Bush, the six Arkansas lawmakers said.
The six members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation who fought for the projects announced today are as follows: Senators Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D), Representatives Marion Berry (D-1st), Vic Snyder (D-2nd), John Boozman (R-3rd), and Mike Ross (D-4th).
The annual Energy and Water Development spending bill is one of twelve appropriations bills passed each year by Congress. It includes funding for civil works projects of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, most of the Department of Energy, and a number of independent agencies. The legislation also includes funding for key Arkansas water projects at various stages of development. The following earmarks are included in the legislation:
$12 million for the Delta Regional Authority. This is an increase of $6 million from what President Bush’s budget included. The Authority provides long-term coordination among federal, state, and local entities committed to economic development in the Lower Mississippi Delta region.
$900,000 for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) for the production and storage of Hydrogen at the Nanotechnology Center of Excellence.
$500,000 for Solar Energy research at UALR.
$1 million for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Cancer Research Center.
$500,000 for the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (CARTI)/Mountain Home for the acquisition of an electronic portal imaging device.
The Energy and Water Conference Report directs the Corps of Engineers, using $9 million in appropriated funds, to continue construction of the water withdrawal features of the Grand Prairie Irrigation project. Both Lincoln and Berry who are supportive of the project, noted the project is intended to protect groundwater resources within a 1.4 million acre area, which includes nearly 50 percent of all rice production acreage in the nation.
The bill also includes language that will move White River Minimum Flows toward implementation at Bull Shoals and Norfork Lakes and will move the process forward toward construction of a fish hatchery in the tailwaters at Beaver Dam.
The bill also includes funding for projects aimed at improving navigation, flood control and the environment:
Small Navigation Projects
$500,000 for the Blytheville Harbor;
Flood Control Projects
$75,000 for Wynne;
Projects for Improvement of the Environment
$130,000 for Ditch 28 in Mississippi County;
$100,000 for Millwood Lake and Grassy Lake;
The bill also includes funding for the following key Arkansas water projects at various stages of development:
Planning & Investigations
Dark Hollow, North Little Rock, $100,000;
Hot Springs Creek Study, $100,000;
White River Basin Comprehensive Study, $800,000;
Southeast Arkansas irrigation project (Boeuf Tensas project), $315,000;
Pine Mountain Dam, $100,000;
Red River Navigation Study, Southwest Arkansas, $150,000;
Southwest Arkansas watershed study of Red River & Little Red River Basins, $100,000;
Bayou Meto, $1.64 million;
Construction
Francis Bland Floodway Ditch (Eight Mile Creek), $3.274 million;
Montgomery Point Lock and Dam, $20 million;
St. Francis Basin (AR & MO), $6.8 million;
Mississippi River Levees (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO & TN), $51 million;
Channel Improvements (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO & TN), $43 million;
Red River Emergency Bank Protection (AR & LA), $3.2 million;
Red River Below Denison Dam (AR, LA & TX), $3 million;
Operations and Maintenance (projects listed were increased over Administration's request)
Mississippi River Levees (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO & TN), $11.5 million;
Helena Harbor, Phillips County, $382,000;
Helena Harbor, $387,000;
Yellow Bend Port, $158,000;
White River, $900,000;
Ouachita and Black Rivers (AR & LA), $13.887 million;
St. Francis Basin, AR & MO; $8.8 million;
Other Operations and Maintenance
Channel Improvement, AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO &TN, $63 million;
Helena Harbor, Phillips County, $382,000;
Inspection of Completed Works, $580,000;
Lower Arkansas River, North Bank, $532,000;
Lower Arkansas River, South Bank, $295,000;
White River Backwater, $1.33 million;
Tensas Basin, Boeuf and Tensas Rivers (AR & LA), $2.47 million;
Beaver Lake, $5.170 million;
Blakely Mt. Dam, Lake Ouachita, $10.084 million;
Blue Mountain Lake, $1.163 million;
Bull Shoals Lake, $5.753 million;
Dardanelle Lock and Dam, $5.872 million;
DeGray Lake, $6.145 million;
DeQueen Lake, $1.074 million;
Dierks Lake, $1.045 million;
Gillham Lake, $984,000;
Greers Ferry Lake, $5.047 million;
Inspection of Completed Works, $179,000;
McClellan-Kerr Navigation system,$31.559 million;
Millwood Lake, $1.604 million;
Narrows Dam, Lake Greeson, $3.908 million;
Nimrod Lake, $1.490 million;
Norfork Lake, $4.086 million;
Ozark - Jeta Taylor Lock and Dam, $4.636 million;
Project Condition Surveys, $6,000. |
